I love this game's difficulty. The monsters at your level love to take huge chunks of it off you, and bosses even more so. This isn't a bad thing. In fact, it's very good, and I promote it whole-heartedly. I have however found that it makes exploring beyond difficult. While deep underground in a large planet, there are many times where I find that getting to the surface again isn't quite possible, and I lose a bunch of pixels simply because, even though I'm in the best armor at my level, the monsters enjoy spawning along paths I've been on to get a quick taste of a hylotl's spine. Generally, most don't get that chance. However, usually, there's enough monsters to make that minority of lucky enemies enough to kill me, and WHOOPS, I DROPPED MY PIXEL WALLET IN THAT CRAZY THING'S JAWS. GOODBYE MONEY! While challenge is a good thing, there are times that I feel that I'm simply being swarmed too much, and my measly health bar isn't QUITE enough to get me from the surface to the planet's magma layer and back again. I won't ask to nerf monsters, the monsters are brilliant as they are and shouldn't be changed in my opinion - I like them as they are... totally not stockholm syndrome. Instead, I propose something else - something that uses that nice little energy pool that I hardly use for much else than guns (provided I find them), double jumping and bubble boosting. I present to you my idea - Energy based shielding! While regular arm-mounted shields are in the game, when you're being swarmed by multiple alien creatures, it's difficult to block every direction, some charge from both sides at the same time and you WILL take damage, especially if you're in a low-ceiling cave and can't jump over them. With energy shielding however, that could change. This isn't simply added armor stats, this won't affect that at all, the energy shield is entirely dependant on your energy limit. If you have a small amount of energy, it won't take long for it to break. On the other hand, pouring a lot of energy into the shield will make it stronger, and able to take more of a beating before it falls to leave you defenceless once more. "But Scousekid" I hear you ask, "Doesn't this make you almost invincible? When your energy regenerates and your shield goes down, couldn't you throw up another one?" NO I say! That's game breaking! We need challenge! While you have your energy shield active, your energy regeneration is GONE! Your shield will drain your energy regen to keep itself going! And don't think just because you're wearing Floran's energy regen gear that you still have some small regeneration in the sunlight - the shield distorts the sun's rays so you don't become a boiling ball of smoking meat! Do you really think you could handle that sort of heat? Think again! My idea is simple. You pour your current energy into a machine - it creates a bubble around you with the same defence that you have. If something would hurt you, it will damage the shield for the same amount. While it's active, your energy regen will not be active, you can't use your pulse jump, transform, create the mech, bubble/butterfly boost etc. This will dominate your energy ENTIRELY. The max amount of damage the shield can take is a 1:1 ratio with your max energy limit, of course, if it's half empty, you're only going to get half of that. As an extra hazard, you have to bare in mind that this is no solid shield, it's not made of anything solid, it's pure energy, and when it runs out, it simply disperses - if your shield breaks, the opponents attack will carry through to you. Think about it. If a bullet hits a bubble, the bubble pops. The bullet carries on. If your shield bursts, it fails to block the bullet. This also means that anything that would normally kill you in a single hit will still kill you if it pierces the shield. If a robot jumps at you and rocket propels itself into a Bruce Lee style kick-flip, and it breaks through your energy shield, you're getting the full force of a rocket-propelled block of steel to the face. You're not going to live. This shield is too fragile for that kind of stuff. However, it's not simply a small defence, it's a bubble that keeps its contents inside. It traps heat. While you're using this, the temperature around you will not heat up / cool down. If you're surrounded by freezing cold air, it will stay at that temperature and you will freeze. However, if you stand by a campfire, then activate it, the heat will be kept inside, and until it next bursts, you're free to explore that wonderful frozen tundra in the warm comfort of your little bubble. Here are the base points I have in mind: On activation, your current energy converts into a shield. Your energy regen will deactivate while the shield is active to keep the shield going. The shield will have it's "health" based on your energy on a 1:1 ratio. It will burst when that "health" reaches 0, and the current damage dealt is sent to your character. You still can't play in lava, you silly melting goose. It traps the air around it, keeping things either hot / cold depending on the temperature of the area it was created in. Manual deactivation will send 50% of your remaining shield's energy back to your energy pool, and regen will restart. If the shield is burst, you take the full blast of the attack that burst it. Your energy will suffer if your shield is burst, and will take a moment to start regenerating again. Very simply put, the shield is there to help you deal with small encounters and exploration more effectively at the cost of your other techs and your energy pool, not to make you an all-absorbing immortal tank that fears nothing! I've even been nice and made some rather simplistic sprites for the energy shield!
Why isn't anyone giving this generous contributor any attention? I'd love to see energy shields in starbound. I imagine that the harder part after having great sprites like these is to have a good coder to implement them?
Is an interesting idea, but when used on an airless planet has not been thought out; probably due to the fact this idea was presented before that update. So in essence it might need balancing towards those type of planets. Other than that note I actually like the idea as a whole.
